Farewell Address

Editor

Full text of the Farewell Address made by Prophet Muhammad to all humanity during his Final Pilgrimage.

Praise be to Allah. We glorify Him; we thank Him. We expect help from Him. We ask to be forgiven by Him and, with repentance, we turn to Him in obedience. We take refuge in Allah against the evil suggestions of our nafs and doing bad acts. Whomever Allah shows the truth, no one can make him stray from the true path. Whomever He allows the freedom to stray from the true path, no one can show him the straight way. I accept and affirm that there is no god but Allah and that He has no partner in His divinity, authority, domain and power. I accept and affirm that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O servants of Allah, I advise you to take refuge in Allah, to hold fast to His commands, to cleanse yourselves from sin, and to protect yourselves from His wrath. I recommend again and again that you obey Him. I begin my words with what is good and with His permission and aid.

O people! I am Allah's Messenger to all of you; the only Messenger with authority that He assigned to convey His commands, to execute His divine judgments, to build the country and to establish a world order. Listen to me; I am going to give you some explanations. I do not know whether I will meet with you here again after this year.

O people! Your blood, your lives, your right to live, your property, your decency, dignity and honor, your bodily integrity are worthy of respect and protection and are inviolable until the day you will meet your Lord, just as this month, this city and this day are deserving of respect and protection. However, punishments made based on decisions necessitated by the responsibilities Islam laid down are an exception.

Hear me well, so that you may continue to live peacefully with dignity and honor. Do not make injustice and oppression. Do not be a tool for coercion, oppression and torture. Do not bow to oppression. Do not accept injustice.  Have I explained myself clearly?

Allah, be my witness, too!

My Companions! You will reach the presence of your Lord; He will ask about your conscious actions.  Have I conveyed the message well?

Allah, be my witness, too!

O people, take refuge in Allah, hold fast to His commands, and protect yourselves from His wrath. Do not withhold people's property, do not decrease its value, do not pay less than its cost, do not degrade their property, do not practice unfair competition, and do not make or cause loss of others' rights by being deceitful, making tricks, being opportunistic or usurping. Do not cause conflict or advance disbelief by making defeatism in the country or on the earth.

My Companions! Whoever has something in trust, let him give this trust to its owner. Reciprocate with gifts to those who give you gifts. Guarantorship is like a debt. Your debts must be paid.

Do not approach me expecting help from your ancestors. Come by means of your conscious acts. I say the same thing to you and to all people.

Usury from the Age of Ignorance has been abolished. Allah commanded that the first abolished usury be Abbas b. Abdulmuttalib's. However, the principal money is yours. Neither can you make injustice nor should you be subject to injustice. Allah has made the prohibition of usury absolute. The first usury I am going to remove is the usury in the trade of my uncle Abbas b. Abdulmuttalib.

O people, do you know which month, which day and which country you are in?

 (The people said, "A protected day worthy of respect and an inviolable country and month.")

O people! Your blood, your lives, your right to live, your property, your decency, dignity and honor, your bodily integrity are worthy of respect and protection and are inviolable until the day you will meet your Lord, just as this month, this city and this day are deserving of respect and protection. However, punishments made based on decisions necessitated by the responsibilities Islam laid down are an exception.

My Companions! I want to indicate that all the blood, water and property feuds from the Age of Ignorance are under my feet until Doomsday.

The blood feuds from the Age of Ignorance have been abolished until Doomsday. The first blood feud we will abolish is Amir (Iyas) b. Rabia b. al-Haris b. Abdulmuttalib's blood feud. He was a child given to Sad b. Leysoğul's wet nurse. Huzayl killed him.

Have I conveyed the message well?

(The people said, "Of course, you conveyed it well.")

-Allah, be my witness, too! Let those here relay my words to those who are not here.

 The municipal duties from the Age of Ignorance have been abrogated except for service to the Kaaba and meeting the water needs of pilgrims.

The punishment for deliberate murder is retaliation in kind. Murder similar to deliberate killing is murder with a stick or rock. Blood money is one-hundred camels. Whoever wants more is one who misses the Age of Ignorance and has not adopted Islam. The greatest enemy to Allah is one who kills another without reason and without any threat to himself, and the one who hits another without reason and without any threat to himself.

Have I conveyed the message well? Allah, be my witness, too!

O people! I caution you, each person is responsible only for the crimes he has committed. A father is not responsible for the guilt of a son; a child is not responsible for the guilt of its father.

O people! Satan has lost hope that you will worship him on this land. However, he will be pleased by your following him in other behavior you deem to be unimportant and in disputes he has made you fall into by instigating strife among you. Protect yourselves from Satan and his immoral, devilish rages and the suggestions and intrigues of satanic arrangements by being constant in your religion and standing up for it.

O people, do not swear in Allah's name falsely. Allah will reveal the falsehood of those who do so.

O people! Time is flowing in the orderly system that Allah ordained on the day He created the heavens and the earth. The number of months is twelve. Four of them are months in which war is forbidden. Three of them are successive. One of them is single. They are Dhul Qa'da, Dhul Hijja, Muharram and Rajab, which falls between Jumada and Sha'ban and which was named by the Mudar tribe.

The number of months is twelve as recorded in the Tablet of Allah's Decrees on the day Allah created the heavens and earth. Four of the months are ones in which war is forbidden. This law related to the sacred months is a law of the Sharia which includes natural, unchangeable legal rules of religion and civilization that uphold mankind, human values and order. Do not oppress yourselves and each other by violating the prohibitions Allah has made in regard to these months.

Just as idolaters in regard to Allah's divinity, authority, property and power fight all together against you, fight all together against them, too. Know that believers who take refuge in Allah, who become purified from their sins by holding tight to His commands,  who protect themselves from His wrath, who behave with an awareness of servanthood and responsibility and stand up for their rights with character, and who are conscious of their religious and social duties are together with the pious.

Postponing the sacred months in which non-aggression has become a tradition, adding a month to the twelve months, and arranging a fake calendar are going too far in repudiation of the judgment Allah has made regarding the year and months. Those disbelievers who cover up the common promises made in the servant-Lord agreement by suppressing faith, servanthood and responsibility in their sub-conscious and who persist in their denial open the way for straying further from the true path and choosing error. They deem the wars in the month they added and changed as halal and legitimate one year and as forbidden the next year. Let them fabricate the number Allah made haram and make halal and legitimate what He proclaimed to be forbidden if they want. Their conscious evil acts have been dressed up and made pleasing to them. Allah will not guide and give success to a tribe that covers up the mutual promises in the servant-Lord agreement, belief in Allah, and consciousness of servanthood and responsibility by suppressing them in their sub-conscious and that persists in blasphemy and ingratitude (Al-Tauba, 9/36-37) .

In one year they deem the month of Safar to be halal; in one year they count Muharram as forbidden. Adding to the year is this. Allah, be my witness, too!

O people! Your women have rights on you, and you have rights on your women. Your rights are for them not to take anyone to your bed, not to oppose your legitimate suggestions, not to take anyone in whom you do not like and not to speak or act indecently. If they do these, Allah permits you to prevent them by leaving them alone in bed and by striking them lightly without harming them. If they forego these and obey, you are responsible for providing them food and clothing in legitimate, customary amounts. Want goodness for them and make an effort to improve their situation, because they are your life companions who do not have the power and opportunity to do something for themselves due to the necessity of mutual life and who must live together with you. You took them as a trust from Allah. Relations with them were made halal with Allah's command and judgment. If they seek their rights and fulfill their responsibilities, you have no right to mistreat or punish them.  If you are worried about their intractability and resorting to violence, give them advice and separate your beds. Strike them lightly without over-doing it. It is their right for you to generously provide every kind of good and favor to them on the subject of food and clothing. On the subject of fulfilling women's rights, hold fast to Allah's commands, protect yourself from His wrath, want good for them and strive to make their conditions improve. Do not let your women generously spend the financial means of the house without your permission or knowledge. Understanding my words well, remember them.

Have I conveyed the message well? Allah, be my witness, too!

O people!  I recommend to you good treatment of male and female slaves over whom you have legitimate rights and with whom you have good human relations and of your workers bound by work agreements. I recommend that you feed them according to what is on your table and clothe them according to what you wear. If they do something wrong that you do not think of forgiving, punish them according to how you punished others for similar wrongs. Do not torture them and punish them excessively.

O people! Listen to my words well and judge well. Know that Muslims of all races are brothers to other Muslims. All believers are brothers. A brother's property is not halal to another as long as there is no approval. Do not allow injustice, tricks or treachery.

Shall I explain to you who a Muslim is? A person from whom Muslims see no harm from his tongue or hand.

Shall I explain to you who a believer is? A person people are sure will not harm their property and their lives.

Shall I explain to you who a Muhajar is? A person who has abandoned committing evil and sin.

Shall I tell you who a Mujahid is? A person struggling against his ego on the road of obedience to Allah.

Like today's inviolability, it is haram for one believer to harm another believer. Slander in the nature of back-biting by one believer to another is haram. It is also forbidden to damage someone's honor and dignity. A believer hitting another believer in the face is also haram. Also pushing and harming him is forbidden.

Have I conveyed the message well? Allah, be my witness!

O people! The earth belongs to Allah and His Messenger. Until people say, "There is no god but Allah," and accept me as His Messenger, I have been commanded to struggle and fight with them. When people repeat the declaration of faith, their blood, their lives and their property are secured. However, punishments made based on decisions necessitated by the responsibilities Islam laid down are an exception. Accounts in the other world belong to Allah. Do not be unjust to one another.

O believers, do not return to blasphemy after me; do not become like infidels smiting each other's neck. I have left you my Sunnah and Allah's book, the Quran, which includes clear religious, scholastic, administrative and political rules that will prevent you from straying from the true path as long as you hold fast to them. Act according to these, and make your behavior reflect the Quran and my Sunnah. Also, I have left behind my close relatives, my Ahl-al-Bayt.

 Have I conveyed the message well? Allah, be my witness!

O people! Your Lord is one; your father is one. People are equal in Islam. You are all children of Adam; and Adam was created from clay. The most valuable among you in Allah's presence is the one who takes refuge in Allah most, holds tightest to His commands, becomes cleansed from sin, and is  protected from wrath. An Arab has no merit over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab; a black has no merit over a red-skinned person, nor a red-skinned over a black - except for piety.

 "O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)" (Al-Hujurat, 49/13).

O people! Even if a Habesh with cut limbs is brought as a ruler, as long as he applies the laws in Allah's book, listen to him and obey.

Have I conveyed the message well? Allah, be my witness!

(The people said, "Yes.")

Let those who are here relay my words to those not here.

O people! Hear me well! The call of all prophets remains in the past; their duties are finished. Only my call and my duty continue. Due to people's needs, I preserved my call and my duty until Doomsday in my Lord's presence.  I am going to take pride in your numbers as opposed to former ummahs. Do not shame me; do not embarrass me.

Listen well. While I can do nothing for some of mankind, I will save others. I will say, "My Lord, my Companions." They will say, "You do not know what they invented in the name of religion after you." I am your leader waiting for you at the head of the pool in heaven.

O people! Allah has designated the rights of everyone, and the inheritance share of every heir. A will cannot be made to an heir. A will can not exceed a third of the estate. A child belongs to a legal wife. A fornicator has no rights. One who behaves ungratefully towards the opportunities provided by his protector, commander, partner, employer or master means he is denying the Quran Allah revealed to Muhammad. May he who claims relationship with someone other than his father or takes as his guardian someone other than his master be damned by Allah, the angels and all of mankind. For such a one, neither will wrath be turned away nor will ransom be taken in place of punishment.

O people! Avoid extremism in religion. For certain it made those before you perish. Learn pilgrimage actions and behavior from me. I do not know if I will make pilgrimage after this year. Let those here relay my advice to those who are not here. Some to whom my advice is relayed will understand and preserve my advice better and many will be happier by applying it.

O people! May Allah bestow His mercy and compassion on those who hear and memorize my words. May Allah brighten their faces. There are many people who memorize my meaningful words without understanding them. May the many who know my profound words relay them to those with greater understanding.  Know that those with these three characteristics and forms of behavior will not be disloyal to Islam and will not remove Islam from their hearts: 

-Those who sincerely fulfill their religious duties for Allah's sake,

-Those who act sincerely and obey Muslim rulers,

-Those believers who protect the unity and integrity of the Islamic ummah.

All believers should fulfill the duty of conveying Islam's message by calling to Islam future generations and those who have not been honored with Islam.

No prophet will be sent after me. There will be no ummah besides you. Recognize your Lord as God, surrender to your Lord as sincere Muslims, and respectfully serve and worship your Lord. Bow to the law of your Lord and, respecting its customs and officials, openly perform prayers five times a day regularly. Give zakat (alms) which purifies the conscience, wealth, and the social body and is a vehicle for abundance. Fast during Ramadan. Obey your rulers so you can enter your Lord's heaven.

O people! Tomorrow they will ask you about me. What do you say? Have I fulfilled my duty as prophet? Have I done my job?

 (The people there said, "Yes, we swear you conveyed the message and gave us advice and recommendations. We witness this.")

- Be witness, O Lord, be witness O Lord, be witness O Lord...

I wish you greetings and peace. I plead for Allah's bestowing mercy and abundance.

(Later he said farewell to the people. Thus, people called this "the farewell pilgrimage.")